Deceit
by Comfortably Plump
Summary: The Inception is successfully complete. Cobb is finally able to get back to his kids… or so he thought. What happens when Saito doesn't keep his word?
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: The Inception is successfully complete. Cobb is finally able to get back to his kids… or so he thought. What happens when Saito doesn't keep his word?**

**Author's Note: This is my first fanfic **_**ever**_** so have mercy on me. This plot just popped into my head while I was sleeping the other day. I saw **_**Inception **_**a while ago and I just thought that Arthur and Ariadne were so adorable. Please leave a review.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Inception **_**does not belong to me, but to Christopher Nolan.**

Ariadne sits at her desk in her boring flat trying to study. It's been three months since the Inception on Fischer. No one has contacted her, but she assumes that everyone is doing well.

Getting back to her life was actually no struggle at all. Once she got back to school everyone acted as if she was never gone. (Courtesy of Professor Miles). All her friends invited her to coffee the next morning, and she had gladly accepted the offer. That's how all the months had gone by so far. But for some reason she could never get her mind off of shared dreaming for too long.

She was starting to miss everyone on the team, especially one particular man with slicked-back hair and always wearing three-piece suits. Arthur had been the one to teach her almost everything she knew about shared dreaming. He had been one of her best mentors ever. Ariadne knew she was starting to have a little crush on Arthur. _No Ariadne, you do not have a crush on Arthur because you hardly know him and you will most likely never see him again._

Ariadne got up from her desk, deciding that she should go get something to eat. She checked the clock. 12:17 p.m. She'd been sitting there so long trying to study she hadn't even realized how late it had gotten.

She wandered into the tiny, poorly lit kitchen of her flat and searched through the wooden cabinet. The cabinets were too high up for her to see what was inside so she simply put her hand in and felt around. Her hand touched a box and she yanked it out of the cabinet. Frosted Flakes. Perfect. She poured herself a bowl and sat down on the couch in her living room. Ariadne knocked over her totem. Reality. She didn't even bother to turn on the TV, content with just hearing the crunching sound the frosted flakes made.

Then she heard a knock on her door.

"Who the hell could that be?" she asked herself as she went to open the door.

She slowly opened the door, to reveal a tall man in all black pointing a gun right at her head.

"Move," he grumbled firmly.

Confused and in total shock, Ariadne did as she was told. The man followed behind her, still pointing the gun at her.

He led her outside and into a black car.

"Get in," he told her.

She stepped into the car to see Saito and… Arthur?

"Saito? Arthur? What's going on?"

"Ariadne, Saito's bringing everyone from the team back together," Arthur told her, "he wants to tell us something." Arthur looked at Saito expectantly.

"Well Miss Ariadne," Saito said in his heavy accent, "I'm afraid I have to kill al of you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **_**Inception**_** belongs to Christopher Nolan.**

Ariadne stared at both of them in shock. She thought that she must have been dreaming. Slipping her hand into her pocket slowly, she felt the cool tip of her golden chess piece. No. She wasn't dreaming. Then she asked the only thing that came to her mind.

"This is some kind of sick joke right?" she asked with a tinge of hope in her voice.

"Sadly no, Ariadne, this is _not_ a 'sick joke'. He's been tracking me for two months now, but I started to notice. So I tried to run and warn everyone, but as you can see that didn't work out for me." Arthur said.

"Well that doesn't explain why you want to kill us though," Ariadne said to Saito now.

"Ah, here's the thing: Robert Fischer is becoming suspicious that he was incepted. He also suspects that I was involved. So I think that the best way for me to get off clean is by getting rid of all the evidence of the Inception, which includes you. No hard feelings though."

Saito and Arthur then got into some heated conversation about where Saito was taking them, but Ariadne wasn't listening. She was too busy wondering at the change in events. Just five minutes ago, she was in her flat eating cereal. Now she was being held captive. Great.

_You know, when I said I wanted a little more excitement in my life this is not what I meant, God, _she thought.

The car ride was an extremely long one and before Ariadne knew it, she had fallen asleep.

She awoke probably several hours later (she couldn't tell what time it was because the windows were tinted and she didn't have a watch) and felt something soft under her head and something heavy on top of her head. Ariadne looked around a little and realized that she'd fallen asleep on Arthur's shoulder. Arthur had fallen asleep and his head had fallen on top of Ariadne's.

_Great, my face is wedged between Arthur's head and shoulder._ Ariadne thought sarcastically, and then realized that it was kind of great.

Ariadne thought it best if she didn't move so she didn't wake up Arthur. During the course of the drive, she tried to fall asleep several times, but she just couldn't.

They finally stopped at an expensive-looking hotel.

The car jolted, waking both Arthur and Ariadne with a start.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ariadne," Arthur said realizing the position he'd fallen into. He slowly removed his head and sat up a little straighter.

Saito had already gotten out of the car and was motioning for them to follow. He walked into the hotel and up to the front desk, telling the receptionist something in Japanese.

Ariadne lagged behind Saito and the big guy to stand next to Arthur.

"I don't suppose you speak Japanese, do you?" she whispered to him.

"I know many things Ariadne, but sadly, no, I do not speak Japanese," he said chuckling slightly.

Saito began to move forwards towards the elevator. Ariadne had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts, she had failed to notice the beautiful interior of the hotel.

There were rich red curtains and carpets. The lobby had several long beige couches and an elaborately-decorated glass table in the middle of the lobby. On that table sat crystal vases of many different colors, each one holding big, bright flowers.

They all made their way into the elevator with no trouble at all. Ariadne watched as all the buttons glowed as they went up several floors. 13. They had stopped on floor 13.

Saito was the first to exit the elevator, ushering the rest of them out.

"Now," Saito said looking at Arthur, "I only got one room for the two of you to share because I refuse to spend extra money on people I'm just going to kill anyways."

Arthur's face was stone-cold and expressionless. He just nodded slightly as Saito continued.

"Your room is on the eighth floor. Here is your key," he said as he dropped it into Arthur's waiting hand.

"Why did you make us come all the way to the thirteenth floor?" Arthur asked with a hint of frustration.

"This is where my room is," Saito replied with a shrug.

Arthur and Ariadne turned without another word and headed back to the elevator. They were both exhausted from sitting in a car for who knows how long.

The elevator was taking too long to reach their floor.

"Hey, are you okay?" Arthur asked turning to face Ariadne. He realized that she hadn't spoken in a while.

"Yeah, I'm just exhausted, that's all."

"Well once we get to the room we can both get some rest."

Ariadne nodded and then blushed at the thought of sharing a room with Arthur. Had Saito gotten them a room with separate beds? A small part of her hoped he didn't.

The elevator finally stopped with a tiny ding and they stepped into the hallway. Once they walked into the room, they both began to survey it. It was a perfectly middle class room with a TV and a little fridge to hold beverages.

"Okay, so there's only one bed and we both need a good night's rest, so I suggest that we share it," Arthur said observing the bed.

"Yeah sure, no problem," she replied wistfully, trying to act like it was no big deal when her stomach was doing somersaults.

Ariadne made her way to the bed slowly and climbed onto it, Arthur soon followed suit.

They were facing each other and Ariadne began to speak.

"Where do you think the rest of the team are, Arthur?

"I don't really know actually. I was captured before I got to check on anybody. They're all probably doing what they planned on doing once the job was over. Cobb's off with his kids, Eames is gambling somewhere, and Yusuf is doing what he used to do before."

"I hope that they're okay."

"Me too."

"Arthur?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we gonna be okay?"

"I hope so Ariadne," Arthur said sighing, "Anyway, we should get some rest. Goodnight Araidne."

"Goodnight Arthur," she said as he switched of the bedside lamp, making the room completely dark.

"Sweet dreams," she heard him whisper into the darkness.

**Author's Note: Okay so chapter 2 is up. I was gonna start writing chapter 2 tomorrow, but the inspiration just started coming to me and I needed to start writing. Hope this story does well. And thanx to all those who have favorited, alerted, and/or reviewed my story. Please remember that this is my first fanfic ever, in fact it's the first story I've ever written. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Hey there everyone! Merry Christmas to all! Okay so I'm just making up this story as I go along. I got kinda bored today and went to type this because I don't want to keep everybody waiting. I am taking everyone's advice on my writing and trying to improve. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer: **_**Inception**_** belongs to Christopher Nolan, not me, which I'm glad for. (Too much responsibility).**

Ariadne awoke the next morning feeling slightly groggy. She was about to get out of bed when she noticed a heavy weight slung around her waist. Realizing Arthur's arm was around her, Ariadne gave an internal start.

She turned a little to face Arthur and saw that he was still asleep. His face looked so peaceful, unlike when he was awake. Though, Ariadne found that she couldn't blame him for not having a happy expression 24/7 with this life. Deciding not to let her thoughts wander, Ariadne went back to staring at Arthur's face. She really, _really _wanted to just touch his cheek.

_What the heck, why not? _She thought to herself.

She slowly reached her hand towards his face and passed her middle finger and her index finger up and down his face, from his temple to his jaw. His face felt smooth with the slightest hint of stubble. Ariadne was so preoccupied that she hadn't even noticed Arthur's hand start to slowly reach up towards her hand. Grabbing her hand, Arthur pulled it towards his lips and kissed it.

Ariadne looked up in shock. Arthur had just kissed her hand? The next thing she picked up was that his eyes were still closed, as if he was thinking really hard on something.

"Good morning," he told her opening his eyes.

"Hey, 'morning Arthur. …Are you gonna explain why you just kissed my hand?"

He shrugged, "I felt like it. Your hand felt really smooth against my face, and I wanted to actually check if it was as smooth as it seemed. By the way, you should do that more often."

"Do what?"

"Touch my face. I like it, it feels good."

Ariadne blushed a little and smiled at Arthur, "Why are you being so nice to me today?"

"I don't know. I think I've missed you," he paused and then sighed, "We should probably start getting ready. Saito will most likely be here to take us… somewhere. Come on," he said getting off of the bed. He walked over to her side of the bed and extended a hand to help her up.

Ariadne got up and smiled at Arthur again. He smiled back. There was kind of an awkward silence that neither of them noticed because they were busy staring at each other.

After a while, Arthur cleared his throat.

"So do you want to use the bathroom first or shall I?"

"You can go first if you want to. I'll just wait out here."

"Sure."

And with that Arthur was gone.

Ariadne was left alone with her thoughts. Did she just share a bed with Arthur? Did he just kiss her hand and tell her it was soft? Did he just tell her he'd been missing her?

Ariadne felt butterflies in her stomach and she just wanted to throw up those butterflies. She was starting to contemplate the idea of Arthur liking her back, when she heard the bathroom door open.

Arthur walked around the corner dressed in the same clothes he had on earlier but looking clean and refreshed.

"I'm going to go now," she said whilst getting up.

Arthur merely nodded.

Once in the bathroom, Ariadne let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She had actually been afraid that Arthur would walk out of the bathroom in just a towel or something. Thank God that didn't happen. Ariadne didn't know how she would have been able to hide her shock in a situation like that. She then took off her clothes and jewelry.

Turning the faucet in the shower on, Ariadne hopped in without waiting for the water to heat up. She didn't have the patience for that right now.

The cold water actually felt really refreshing on her dirty skin. It helped her muscles loosen up.

Ariadne turned around to check if the shower had some of those hotel shampoos and soaps. It did. Picking up the shampoo bottle first, she noticed that the bottle wasn't completely full.

_Arthur must have used some. No doubt he feels as nasty as I do._

After Ariadne finally felt fresh enough in her clothes about fifteen minutes later, she left the bathroom.

She found Arthur sitting on the couch in front of the TV and she listened when she heard a familiar name.

_Robert Fischer Jr. has decided to dissolve his father's empire. The entire public is shocked by this decision, _said the reporter. In the background stood Fischer Morrow.

"Do you think Saito was telling the truth about Fischer suspecting he was incepted?" Ariadne said breaking the heavy silence.

"I think so, but we can never be too sure," came Arthur's serious response.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Ariadne said as she sat down next to Arthur.

"I don't know. I guess we just have to wait around for Saito's orders."

Araidne could tell he hated not knowing and being ordered.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here is chapter4. I put a little twist in this one. Hope everyone likes it.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Inception **_**is obviously not mine.**

The rest of the day went by slowly. They just sat around getting to know each other and watched the news to get updates on what Fischer was doing so they could see how well the Inception worked. It worked pretty well.

Soon the hours became days, and the days became weeks. Ariadne began to get suspicious.

_How long is Saito going to keep us here?_

She could see Arthur was feeling the same way. One day while they were eating dinner in the couch in the living room, Ariadne was studying him carefully as he was slowly eating his salad.

Suddenly, Arthur stood up and started pacing.

"Arthur, what's wrong?" Ariadne asked even though she already knew.

"This doesn't feel right. By _this_, I mean sitting around everyday for weeks doing nothing. We're not even allowed to leave the room. _What is Saito doing?_ I mean, if he wants to kill us can't he just get it over with already."

Ariadne visibly flinched at his last sentence, but Arthur didn't notice (he was pacing with his head down).

"You know what, I'm gonna go see what he's doing," Arthur said exaspereatedly, finally looking up at Ariadne and seeing the horror in her expression.

"Ariadne, what's wrong? Arthur said rushing over to her at once.

She shook her head and quickly regained her composure.

"Nothing, Arthur, I just don't think you should leave the room. Saito might… punish you."

Arthur's expression softened at her words.

"Don't worry about me, Ariadne, I'll be fine. I'm just going to talk to him and see why he has us waiting around."

Ariadne couldn't find words with the lump forming in her throat, so she just nodded and watched as Arthur left the room.

It seemed like forever until Arthur came back to their room.

"Did you talk to him?" Ariadne asked as soon as he stepped in.

"No." Arthur's expression was balnk as he said this which mad eAriadne think something was wrong.

"Arthur?" she questioned.

"Saito's dead."

**Ooooooooooh… cliffhanger. I told you I put a twist in this chapter. I apologize if my writing sucks in this chapter, I'm just really tired and wanted to put up something for you guys to read.**


	5. Chapter 5

**OMG! 14 REVIEWS! I'm doing a happy dance right now. *Does a happy dance* WHOO! YEAH BABY! Any who… back to my normal side.**

**Here is chapter 5. And to BlackxValentine, I'm bringing in the other characters in a little while. Don't you worry your pretty little head. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Inception **_**because I'm not smart enough.**

Ariadne stared at Arthur in total shock and confusion. She realized she'd been doing that a lot lately.

"What do you mean Saito's dead? Arthur, what did you do?"

An expression of shock passed on Arthur's face as he realized what she was saying.

"No, no, no, Ariadne, it wasn't like that. I just walked into the room, and it was a mess. Then I saw Saito's dead body, that's all."

"Oh, sorry. Just don't scare me like that."

"Well, come on, we're leaving," Arthur said pulling Ariadne towards the door by her wrist."

"Wait, what about the other guy. You know, the one that kidnapped me," Ariadne said stopping dead in her tracks.

"I saw him in the room."

"And…"

"He's dead too."

"Okay, now we can go," Ariadne said with enthusiasm.

They walked out of their room with empty hands considering they had nothing with them in the first place. As they walked through the lobby and out the hotel doors, Ariadne realized that she had no idea where they were going.

"Arthur, what are we going to do now?" she asked as they walked down the busy sidewalk.

"Well, we're going to go get some money from an ATM somewhere and then… I don't really know actually. I'm still thinking about it," Arthur said with a smirk.

"Okay, I'll leave everything up to you."

They walked for a few blocks until they came to an ATM. Arthur went in and Ariadne waited for him outside. He came out with a good deal of money and stated that they were going to buy some necessities.

The next hour was spent buying things like toothbrushes, soap, and clothing. Ariadne had treated herself to three new scarves, a pair of jeans, and five shirts. She had then forced Arthur into buying a pair of jeans which was a lot harder than she thought it would have been. Now all she had to do was make sure he wore them. Arthur had bought for himself one suit (of course he had), a pair of jeans, and several T-shirts at Ariadne's request to 'blend in'. Then they bought suitcases to hold all their things in.

All in all, their shopping trip had been worth it. After changing in the bathroom of a hotel they found, they set out to the airport.

"We're going to take a plane to Los Angeles to see Cobb and tell him of the past weeks' events."

"Great, I haven't seen Cobb since the Fischer job."

The bus ride to the airport had been short considering they were already nearby.

They walked into the airport, bags in tow, and bought two first-class tickets to Los Angeles.

"You know, Arthur, maybe we should have bought some cheaper tickets to save our money. You can't tell if we may need it still," Ariadne said as they boarded the plane.

"Trust me, Ari; I've got plenty more where that came from. Come on," he said grabbing her hand and pulling her onto the plane.

Ariadne blushed at the thought of Arthur holding her hand and the fact that he had given her a new nickname.

They sat next to each other on the ride in comfortable silence. Arthur stared out of the plane window, while Ariadne watched him and wondered what he was thinking. He turned and she blushed, caught.

"Sorry," she said turning away with the blush on her cheeks becoming darker.

"It's okay, Ari. I star at you too, I just make sure I don't get caught," he said with a wink.

The rest of the ride was spent with both of them drifting in and out of sleep, and stealing glances at each other.

When the plane finally landed, they got their luggage and took a cab to a car rental agency, where Arthur rented a car. It was a sleek black Chevy Camaro – typical Arthur car. The interior contained black leather seats and the windows were seriously tinted.

_I guess it's for our faces to avoid being seen by people who were working with Saito or something, _Ariadne thought,_ pretty smart._

After renting their car for an undetermined amount of time, they set out for Cobb's home (Arthur had been there before, so he knew where it was). Ariadne was actually really excited to see what Cobb's house looked like from the outside (she'd seen the interior in a dream before when she'd intruded on his prison of memories) and she was excited to see his children's faces. But most of all, she was excited to see Cobb himself. She missed him.

About fifteen minutes later, they pulled up to a Victorian-looking household surrounded by big, beautiful flowers. It was a very lovely house and environment. Ariadne spotted two blond children playing on the porch.

Arthur came around to her side of the car and opened her door for her. Ariadne got out of the car graciously with a shy smile. She followed Arthur up to the house and onto the wide, open porch.

"Hey James, hey Philippa," Arthur greeted the two children who then proceeded to jump into his arms and smother his face in kisses. Ariadne watched the loving scene in admiration.

When the children had finally stopped squealing and had quieted down considerably, Arthur asked them:

"Is your daddy inside?"

"We thought Daddy was with you, working," answered Philippa.

"Yeah, Daddy hasn't been home in a while," James added.

Arthur and Ariadne stared at each other in confusion.

"Hi I'm Philippa and this is James."

"Hi," James piped, "Are you a friend of Uncle Arthur's?"

It took Ariadne a few seconds to realize that the children were introducing themselves to her.

"Yes, I am Arthur's friend and I'm also your daddy's friend," Ariadne told them with a friendly smile.

The children smiled back at her and proceeded to throw several questions at her about how she met Uncle Arthur and Daddy. She answered every question truthfully without having to tell them about shared dreaming. Once their conversation was over Arthur asked them who was home with them. They told him that Grandpa was inside. Arthur and Ariadne excused themselves and entered the house, where they met Miles sitting down reading a book.

Miles looked up in confusion.

"Ariadne? Arthur? What are you doing here?"

"Hello Miles," Arthur greeted him.

"Hello Professor," Ariadne said moving in to give him a hug.

"Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you? You haven't been to class in weeks. I'm assuming there's a logical explanation that has to do with dream technology," Miles said after he had hugged her giving each of them a knowing look.

"Well there is a logical explanation - ," Ariadne started.

"And it does have to do with shared dreaming," Arthur finished for her.

They then proceeded to tell Miles about how Saito had kidnapped them and his plans to kill everyone on the team. They also told him about their conversation with the kids outside.

"How is this possible?" Miles queried, "I thought Dom was still working on that job with you."

"I don't know…" Ariadne said dumbfounded.

"I think I do," Arthur said realization hitting him, "We have to go Miles. Excuse us," he said grabbing Ariadne's hand and pulling her out of the house.

James and Philippa had relocated to the back of the house so they moved through with ease.

They got into the car and Arthur drove down the road, breaking the speed limit.

"Arthur, what's wrong?" asked Ariadne.

"I'll explain later," he said quickly eyes still on the road.

"Where are we going?"

"Los Angeles County State Prison."

**Mwahaha another cliffhanger. I know, I'm evil.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys. Sorry for the long wait. My inspiration was running dry since school started again. O_O And also my internet stopped working for some reason. Those were some of the worst few days of my life. Anyway, here is chapter six. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Inception belongs to Christopher Nolan.**

"We're going to prison?" Ariadne asked totally confused now.

"Yup," Arthur replied simply keeping his eyes on the road.

"Huh? Can you please elaborate?" Ariadne asked realizing the car had sped up and they were now breaking the speed limit.

"I'll tell you when we get there. Right now I just wanna focus on the road, okay?"

"Okay," she sighed.

Ariadne had just registered the fact that she had no idea where the prison was and how long it would take to get there. She hoped it wasn't far. Ariadne was the type of girl that didn't like not knowing what was going on, but when she was with Arthur that seemed to be happening quite a lot. When her thoughts ran on Arthur, Ariadne turned to look at him. She saw that his hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

They suddenly made a sharp turn to the left. There, Ariadne saw a building that looked slightly ominous in her eyes.

"Here we are," Arthur broke the silence that had been hanging in the air. He parked the car and they sat there until Ariadne spoke.

"Yeah, now tell me what's going on. Please?" she added a sweet smile to the end.

Arthur laughed. "You're adorable," he said looking at her. "Anyway… I think Cobb's in jail."

"What?"

"Wait, let me finish. I think he's in jail because Saito never cleared his charges. Saito had us all fooled. Cobb probably got arrested at the airport when none of us were looking. That would explain why his kids and Miles thought he was still working."

Ariadne's expression changed from one of confusion, to realization, to hurt.

"So we did all that for nothing? Saito is a lot more cold-hearted than I realized."

"Yeah, same here. Come on, let's go inside and see if we can check if Cobb is in there."

Ariadne nodded, and they both stepped out of the car. Arthur led the way inside. They made their way over to a policeman and asked if there was a Dominic Cobb in the prison.

"Yes, there is," Replied the policeman, a slightly chubby man who appeared to be in his forties, "Are you two here to visit him?"

"Yes, we are," Arthur answered smoothly.

"Alrighty, follow me."

The policeman led them down the hall towards one of those rows of booths that Ariadne recognized from crime shows. The ones that are used to talk to people in jail.

A few rows down they saw Cobb. He looked tired. He had huge, dark bags under his eyes that made him look ancient. His eyes looked slightly cloudy and far away.

They stopped by his booth, but he didn't seem to notice them approach.

"Mr. Cobb, you have visitors."

"So I've heard," Cobb replied.

It was only then that he seemed to realize who his visitors were.

"Arthur? Ariadne? What are you guys doing here? How did you know I would be here?"

"That's a very long story which I'm too tired to tell you so I'll let Arthur tell you," Ariadne said teasingly.

Arthur smiled at Ariadne and laughed. Then he turned to Cobb. "Good to see you again, Dom," he said offering him a small smile that Cobb returned. "But sadly it's under these circumstances."

"Yeah, I don't exactly know what happened. I was just walking out of LAX when a bunch of cops started to surround me. Next thing I knew I was in here. How did this happen," Cobb said passing his hand over his face.

"We know how it happened," Arthur said. He began to tell Cob everything that had happened to them starting form when they were kidnapped by Saito.

Once Arthur had finished, Cobb looked shell-shocked.

"Oh my God. I can't believe we trusted him. How could we have not seen through him?"

"I know," Arthur sighed, "I'm sorry Dom. This is my fault. I'm the Point Man. I'm supposed to—"

"Save it Arthur," Cobb cut him off, raising his hand, "This is _not_ your fault."

"Cobb's right, Arthur," Ariadne had finally spoken after a while, "Don't blame yourself Arthur," she said rubbing his upper arm.

"Alright, so that still doesn't explain why you guys are here," Cobb said.

"We just wanted to make sure you were here in case we assumed wrongly," Ariadne told him glancing at Arthur.

"Okay, well I think you guys should go to Mombasa to check on Eames and Yusuf."

"What about you?" Ariadne asked looking extremely concerned.

"Just go check on the others first, then you can come back for me. I want to make sure everyone else is okay first." Cobb looked pointedly at Arthur.

"Are you sure?" Arthur spoke this time.

"Yes I'm sure."

"Well I guess we should get going then," Arthur said glancing at Ariande and grabbing her hand.

"Yeah, I'll see you guys soon." Cobb stared at both of them intently and briefly glanced at their intertwined hands. "Hey, are you two… dating?"

"What? N-no, of course not," Ariadne stuttered her face turning a bright red.

Arthur simply shrugged his expression blank.

"Okay, well, I'll see you two soon."

"Promise?" Ariadne asked.

"I promise," Cobb answered.

With that, they exited the building.

Arthur drove them to a hotel, where they got a room to share so they could save on money. They had already booked two tickets to Mombasa for tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.

Once in their room, they both took a shower and hopped into bed.

They lay facing each other, just staring, until Arthur broke the silence.

"Ariadne, I want to ask you something."

"Alright, shoot."

"Well, we've been getting to know each other lately and I am really starting to like you. And back at prison when Cobb asked if we were dating, I wanted to say yes. But I want your approval. I guess what I'm trying to say is… Ariadne, will you be my girlfriend?"

Ariadne did not believe the words she'd just heard. She stared at Arthur in total shock for what seemed like forever until she remembered that she had to answer him.

"Arthur, that is just adorable. I'd love to be your girlfriend."

Arthur smiled and pulled her closer to him until their lips met. Ariadne smiled into the kiss. He tasted of toothpaste, which wasn't surprising considering he'd just brushed his death.

They broke apart after a little while and Arthur put his arm around her, pulling her back against his chest. He placed a feather-light kiss on the top of her head.

"Goodnight Ariadne," he said smiling.

"Goodnight, Arthur," she smiled back at him before drifting into a peaceful sleep.

**I'm sorry if the part when they were talking to Cobb in prison was confusing, I didn't really know how to describe that. And also I'm sorry if this chapter was rushed. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! **

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	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry it's taken me so long guys. I've been practicing my guitar lately and I've finally learnt how to play Time of Your Life from Green Day. I've also been trying to finish a book called **_**The Host **_**by Stephenie Meyer. (Very good book, I would recommend it.) **

**Anyway, here is chapter 7; I hope it was worth the wait.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inception, just my story.**

The trip to Mombasa was short and it passed in Ariadne's mind as a blur. The entire time all she could think about was the fact that Arthur had confessed his feeling for her. It made her completely elated. He held her hand as they walked through the airport towards the exit, and took a cab.

Arthur paid the driver before they reached their destination.

"Where are we going Arthur?" Ariadne asked as he rubbed circles on the top of her hand with his thumb. It was very distracting.

"First, we're going to book a room at a hotel and then we'll visit Eames and Yusuf. They should be at the same place," he replied turning a little to look at her.

"Where _exactly _are they?"

"They should be at Yusuf's place."

The rest of the ride was spent in comfortable silence; all the while Arthur was rubbing circles on Ariadne's palm.

They pulled up to a five star hotel called Embassy Suites.

They exited the cab and walked into the hotel.

Naturally, Ariadne observed her surroundings as Arthur talked to the receptionist. The hotel had kind of a rainforest-like theme. There was a bridge with rocks, bushes, and water on it that lead to the breakfast area. The rest of the hotel parted in different directions leading to areas that were not visible from Ariadne's point of view.

She had been so busy looking around she hadn't even noticed when Arthur had grabbed her hand and was gently nudging her to get her attention.

"Come on, let's go up to our room," he told her tugging her by the hand.

"Okay," Ariadne replied blushing at the words: "_our_ room".

The trip to their room was short because Arthur had booked them on the third floor. Once the arrived in their room, they each set down their suitcases and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Well, I don't think we should unpack; we're not gonna be here in Mombasa long anyways," Arthur stated.

"Good idea," Ariadne said getting up.

"Wait, just… stay with me for a while," Arthur said grabbing her hand and pulling her onto his lap.

He kissed her forehead and she sat there with her eyes closed, enjoying the moment.

However, their moment was interrupted by a sharp knock on their door. Arthur sighed, and gently lifted Ariadne up and put her to lie down on the bed, as he answered the door.

His posture visibly saddened when he saw who it was.

"Darling," Eames called trying to pull Arthur into a hug, which Arthur quickly side-stepped to avoid.

"Oh, don't be such a stick in the mud," Eames scolded with a playful pout on his face, "Where's Ariadne?"

"She's right here," Arthur said stepping aside to let Eames in, instantly revealing Ariadne.

"There you are sweet pea, how've you been?" Eames asked as he made his way over to the bed.

"I've been great," she responded sitting up straight to give Eames a hug, "It's really great to see you Eames."

"Good to see you too darling."

By now, Arthur had already come to stand beside Eames.

"What are we going to do about all this?" Arthur asked getting straight down to business.

"I don't know. You tell me. Aren't you the one that's always supposed to have a plan?" Eames taunted.

"I'm only human Eames," Arthur shot back.

"I have a plan. But before I say what it is I'd like to know, Mr. Eames, how did you know where Arthur and I were?"

"Oh, that's an easy one. I've been stalking you since the airport."

"Oh… okay. So here's my plan: first we go find Yusuf…"

"And?" Arthur and Eames asked at the same time looking at her with expectant faces.

"Well, that's all I've got so far. It's better than nothing, I guess. Besides, I'm not the Point Man; I don't _have_ to have an elaborate scheme in the back of my mind 24/7.

"Hey, that's not true. I'm not always planning something," Arthur said blushing.

"Okay…" Ariadne said in a sarcastic sing-song voice.

Arthur just smiled at her.

"Is there something going on here?" Eames asked motioning between the two of them with a mischievous look on his face.

"What do you mean?" Ariadne asked playing dumb.

"Don't you play coy with me, darling. I, being the Love Doctor, can tell when there's something going on," Eames retorted wiggling his eyebrows.

"Jesus, are we that obvious?" Arthur asked passing his hand over his face.

"No, no, not at all. I just have an eye for these things."

"What, so when you go to a bar to pick up a girl, you can tell whether she's single or not?" Arthur mocked.

"Of course not," Eames gasped slapping his hand over his heart, feigning hurt, "I don't care if the girl is single or not."

"Ha ha."

"Okay, guys, let's get down to business," Ariadne spoke up, getting fed up with their bickering, "Eames, do you know where Yusuf is?"

"I don't know precisely where he is, but I do know where he usually is and most likely will be."

"Alright," Ariadne said grabbing her totem and shoving into her jeans pocket as she headed for the door, "Let's go there."

Eames and Arthur followed Ariadne out the door, Arthur making sure to lock their room.

Once they were outside they got into Eames' car (thank God he had a car so they wouldn't need to take a cab) and headed down the road towards… wherever.

Arthur and Ariadne sat in the back while Eames drove. Arthur kept a tight grip on Ariadne's hand as she gazed out the window.

Mombasa wasn't really Ariadne's dream area to say the least. The streets were packed with people walking around everywhere, some carrying big bags of vegetables, some carrying their children.

Her surroundings were boring so Ariadne decided to try and get some sleep. She pushed herself against Arthur's side and he willingly wrapped his arm around her shoulders, making her much warmer and comfortable. She rested her head on his shoulder and drifted into a long, peaceful sleep, knowing that Arthur was at her side.

Ariadne awoke feeling much better and energized. She opened her eyes and looked up, realizing that they were still in a moving car and that she had fallen onto Arthur's lap. She sat up slowly, and realized that Arthur had been looking back down at her.

"Oh, hey," she said looking at him as she sat up, "How long was I out?"

"About an hour and a half," he said gently smiling at her.

"What? And we're still driving? Eames, how far away is Yusuf's place?"

"Oh, it was about a half hour away from the hotel you guys were at," Eames replied taking his attention off the road to turn around and look at her.

"Well then why aren't we there yet?"

"Well," Arthur cut in, "Eames decided that he just _had _to stop and buy an ice-cream for the best ice-cream parlor in Mombasa, which had a huge amount of people inside, but he only wanted ice-cream from there."

"Eames!" Ariadne shouted in disbelief.

"Don't worry, darling we're almost there."

"What exactly does "almost" mean in your dictionary, Eames?"

"As in we're here right now," Eames said pulling up to an old-looking brown building.

The windows were cracked and the paint was fading so that it almost looked to be a beige building.

Eames got out of the car first, followed by Arthur and then Ariadne.

Eames showed his ID to a tall, burly man standing outside the entrance. At seeing who Eames was, the man stepped aside and allowed them to enter.

What Ariadne saw inside was a complete shock to her.

There were multiple test tubes broken all over the floor and an old matching wooden table and chair were toppled over. The chair was missing a leg.

"What happened?" Ariadne was the first one to break the shocked silence.

"Well, there are obvious signs of struggle here, so my guess is that Cobol got to him," Arthur replied looking at a spilled chemical on the floor.

"Eames, was this Yusuf's home?" Ariadne asked shifting her position to look at Eames, who was standing over the broken chair.

"No, this was just his lab."

"Well, then where is he?" Ariadne questioned.

5


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey there, party people. I'm back. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. This chapter picks up right where the last one left off. Also, I know that everyone in my story is probably really OOC, but I am trying to improve that.**

**I would also like to thank everyone who has read my story or reviewed it or alerted it etc. **

**Disclaimer: I only own my story, not Inception.**

"Maybe we should check his house first. You know, before we jump to any conclusions," Eames said turning towards the exit.

"I agree," Arthur said as he too turned around and grabbed Ariadne's hand as he headed towards the exit.

Eames started the car as soon as they were all inside.

"How far away is his home?" Ariadne asked.

"Always the inquisitive one, isn't she Arthur?" Eames joked.

Arthur ignored him and pulled Ariadne closer to his side, choosing to answer her question.

"I've been to his house only once, but if I remember correctly it's not too far from his lab. Should be about a half hour drive, actually."

Ariadne had only asked this because she didn't know how long she could hold in all the anxiety she was feeling. She wanted to make sure everyone else was okay. Cobb was already in jail, and she didn't want anything to happen to everyone else either.

This time, Ariadne knew she was going to stay awake for the whole ride; she was too nervous to fall asleep.

"Ari, are you okay? You're shivering." Arthur asked turning his head to get a better look at her face.

"I'm fine, just a little nervous," she answered him avoiding eye contact and trying to sound as calm as possible.

"A little nervous?" Arthur quoted raising an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, so I'm a lot nervous. Not much of a difference if you ask me. Either way I'm still nervous."

"Hey, don't worry," he told her placing his finger under her chin and bringing her eyes up to meet his, "Everything's gonna be fine."

He kissed her on her forehead, before bringing her lips up to meet his. However, it only lasted for about two seconds before Eames interrupted them.

"Oy, none of that in my car," he said throwing his empty ice-cream container at them.

"Hey, no one stops you when we see you making out with some chick at a bar," Arthur retorted as he pulled away from Ariadne.

"Yeah, what's your point?" Eames asked turning his attention back to the road.

Arthur ignored him and turned back to Ariadne and continued to kiss her silently while Eames wasn't looking.

It lasted longer this time, to say the least. By the time they pulled away, they were already at what appeared to be Yusuf's place.

Arthur was the first to exit the car as Eames turned off the engine. Ariadne followed Arthur slowly as Eames started coming up behind them.

"Hey Arthur, slow down," Eames called as he jogged past Ariadne.

Ariadne was now lagging behind, which made her somewhat nervous. She felt as though someone were watching her. She sped up and saddled up right beside Arthur who immediately took her hand in his.

Eames moved in front of them to knock on the door. No one answered. He knocked again. Still no answer.

"Hello, Yusuf?" Eames called out starting to look worried.

"What the _hell_ is going on?" Arthur growled, his hand squeezing Ariadne's a little tighter.

"That's what I was thinking," Ariadne whispered.

Eames took that moment to turn the doorknob, showing them the door was open. They all looked at each other briefly, before Arthur nodded, signaling for them to go inside.

Inside looked like any average-everyday household, but something was wrong. It was completely silent. Dead silent.

They all entered the home and split up. Eames went down the left hall and Arthur and Ariadne went straight ahead.

"What do you think we'll find?" Ariadne asked as they stopped in front of a wooden door.

"I can't tell you, Ari," Arthur said as he slowly turned the doorknob and tugged them into the room.

Nothing. Literally. The room was absolutely empty, save for the dust on the floor and walls. They walked in slowly, taking in the whole area.

"This is a strange room to have in your house," Ariadne stated.

"No kidding," Arthur replied.

They walked out of the room together as Arthur closed the door behind them with a click.

"Do you want to check the rest of the hou—?" Ariadne began, only to be cut off by a horrified yell from Eames.

"Oh no," Arthur said with a shocked expression on his face.

They ran back down the hallway, and turned down the corridor that Eames had taken. They were immediately met with a set of stairs that they proceeded to practically jump up.

When they reached the top of the stairs they were met with an open door. From Ariadne's point of view, she couldn't see Eames or anything else for that matter. She began to worry that something more horrible than she had ever imagined had happened.

Arthur walked in first, Ariadne lagging behind out of fear of what she would see. She moved tentatively behind Arthur as they slowly made their way into the room.

Ariadne was met with the most horrific scene she had ever laid her eyes on. Yusuf lay sprawled on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding him. His eyes were open, but they were bloodshot. His chest wasn't moving up and down like it was supposed to.

Ariadne felt her eyes slowly begin to water as she watched Arthur slowly make his way over to Yusuf and check his pulse.

"He's… dead."

Arthur said each word slowly, as if it took the world of effort to say them.

They were both so shocked that they hadn't noticed Eames's body laying a little ways off from Yusuf's.

"Eames!" Ariadne yelled as she rushed over to him.

Arthur quickly followed her as she knelt beside Eames.

"Eames, Eames!" she chanted over and over as she aggressively shook him.

"Hold on," Arthur had come to kneel beside her and take her hands away from Eames.

She slowly stopped shaking him and crossed her arms over her chest to resist the urge. Watching as Arthur checked for a pulse, Ariadne began to worry that a Cobol agent was still in the house. Feeling just the slightest bit paranoid, she edged a little closer to Arthur just as he had finished checking Eames for a pulse.

"He's still alive," Arthur told her starting to stand up, "We should probably get him to a hospital."

"What do you think happened to him?" Ariadne asked as she stood up.

"It's possible that he fainted from shock of seeing Yusuf dead. Can you help me try to get Eames off the floor?"

"Sure."

It took them a while to get Eames off the floor with a solid grip (he was a lot heavier than he looked). However, they got him up eventually Ariadne holding his legs off the floor and Arthur carrying his upper body.

Arthur took the keys from one of Eames's pants pockets and they loaded him into the backseat of the car in the most comfortable position they could manage. Once they were on the road, Arthur turned to look at Ariadne.

"How are you doing?" Arthur asked her softly, looking at her with a sad expression.

"How do you _think_ I'm doing, Arthur?" Ariadne answered and turned her face away from him to look out of the window.

The car immediately made an abrupt turn to the side of the road.

"Ari, look at me. Please," Arthur said.

Ariadne continued to stare out of the window, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes.

"Ariadne." He said a little more firmly this time.

She turned to face him slowly, tears falling from her eyes. Arthur immediately pulled her into his arms. She let her tears fall freely and cried on his shoulder as he rubbed soothing circles on her back.

"It's okay to cry, Ari. Just let it all out. I'm here for you," Arthur told her as she sobbed even heavier with each word that he said.

Ariadne slowly pulled away from Arthur. He looked her in the eyes before speaking.

"Ari, I don't want you to ever feel like you can't cry in front of me, okay?"

She nodded.

"It's okay to cry. We all do it because we're human. I'm not going to tell you that everything's gonna be okay, because I can never be sure of that. But I will tell you that no matter what happens you can always find comfort in me."

"I know that, Arthur. I'm so sorry I snapped at you before."

"It's okay. I understand, and I don't blame you. Now, let's try to get Eames to the hospital."

Arthur used the back of his thumbs to wipe the remaining tears from Ariadne's face and kissed her on the top of her head.

Starting the car again, he drove them towards a hospital that Ariadne recognized from their drive earlier.

"Stay here," Arthur told her as he exited the car.

He arrived less than a minute later with two men that Ariadne guessed worked at the hospital. They unloaded Eames from the car and carried him inside the broad white doors of the hospital.

Arthur opened Ariadne's car door and they entered the building.

Several of the people inside were dressed in green scrubs, but some of them wore white clothing. The bright white lights burned Ariadne's eyes.

Arthur and Ariadne followed the men that were carrying Eames on a stretcher towards a room with one bed covered in white cloths. The walls were white just like almost everything else in the hospital.

Eames was laid on the bed and hooked up to an IV.

"You two are going to have to leave the room, please. I'm sorry."

Ariadne realized that the man was addressing them. She looked at Arthur, who nodded quickly. They turned and left the room to take a seat in two chairs in the hall opposite Eames's door.

"He's going to be okay, right Arthur?" Ariadne asked looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Of course he is. He was just… traumatized. He'll be fine. What would we do without Eames's excellent humor?" he added sarcastically.

Ariadne laughed glad to have something to smile about despite their circumstances.

The man that had told them to exit the room came to them about ten minutes later. He assured them that Eames was fine and that they could leave as soon as they wanted to.

As soon as he told them that Eames was awake he granted them permission to see him.

Arthur and Ariadne ran to Eames's room, to meet him sitting up in the bed smiling at them.

"Hello darlings. What happened?"

Ariadne rushed to him and threw her arms around him, causing him to make an "oomf" sound.

"Easy there, Ariadne. Arthur, control your girl!" Eames joked rapping his arms around her.

"I was so worried about you Eames," Ariadne said as she pulled away from him.

"Me too," Arthur admitted coming to stand next to Ariadne at Eames's bedside.

"Aw, Arthur was worried about me. I'm touched," Eames mocked placing his hand over his heart.

"Don't you remember what happened?" Ariadne asked him.

"Well, I remember seeing… Yusuf's… dead… body. And then I started to see dots of black in my vision and eventually the black dots took over everything. When I woke up, I was here."

"Just as I thought. You passed out because of the… dramatic circumstances," said Arthur.

"I guess I was just so shocked to see one of my closest friends in that state. Yusuf and I were going on five years. We used to have a lot of fun… At least he's in a better place now." Eames said closing his eyes, "I think I want to leave this gloomy place. In fact I think we should get out of Mombasa. It won't be long before the police find Yusuf's body. They'll want to ask his friends questions."

"That would be us," Ariadne stated.

"He's right. We should probably get outta here," Arthur agreed, "We could head back to Paris. I'm going to go tell the doctor's we're ready to leave."

Arthur left briefly and returned saying that they were all free to go.

They drove back to the hotel where Ariadne had a short nap as Arthur booked them tickets to Paris on his laptop. Eames left to go back to his home and pack some things for the road.

Arthur and Ariadne packed up everything though there wasn't much. They were met by Eames in the hotel parking lot and drove to the airport, where they all boarded the plane to Paris.

7


	9. Chapter 9

The plane landed at 12:00 pm; everyone was exhausted.

"Ariadne, can we all stay at your place?" Arthur asked as they all loaded their luggage in the taxi trunk.

"Why?" Ariadne asked puzzled as to why they would want to stay at her tiny flat.

"Well, I suspect that the person that's after us might show up at your flat, if they haven't already. I'd like to keep an eye over there. And also, why waste money on a hotel if your flat is in Paris?" Arthur told raising an eyebrow as they entered the cab.

"I'm not sure if everyone can fit there," Ariadne admitted starting to feel embarrassed by her tiny flat. She was vaguely aware of Arthur getting in the backseat with her and Eames getting in the front passenger seat.

"I know. Eames can sleep outside," Arthur joked as Eames gave the driver the directions to her flat.

"I heard that," Eames spoke not turning around to look at them.

Ariadne laughed at that, and Arthur gave an amused expression with his signature smirk.

"So, we're really going to my place?" Ariadne asked still skeptical.

"Yes, Ari, it'll be fine," Arthur comforted her.

The rest of the drive was quiet save for the occasional banter between Arthur and Eames. They arrived at Ariadne's flat less than an hour later.

"Lemme get my keys," Ariadne said reaching into her pocket.

"I got them," Eames proclaimed making Ariadne's hand stop halfway to her pocket as he held up her keys.

"How did you…? Never mind," Ariadne grumbled grabbing the keys from Eames's grasp.

She turned the lock and lazily opened the door to her flat. The bowl of Frosted Flakes she was eating last time she was here sat stagnant on the living room table.

"This will be fine," Arthur said as he moved up to stand next to her.

"Yeah, it's great darling… where's the bed: I'm pooped," Eames said wandering further into her flat in search of the bed.

"Follow me, it's down this way."

She led him down the very short hall and showed him a room to the left. However, on her bed sat a man with brown hair wearing a business suit. His back was turned to them so they couldn't tell who he was.

Eames began reaching for his gun at the back of his pants.

"Run," he told Ariadne quietly.

And she did. She ran as swiftly and as quietly as she could until she reached the living room where she found Arthur. He smiled at her but then he saw the expression on her face. He immediately switched over to business Arthur.

"What happened?" he asked his expression darkening.

"There's a… man… in… my room," she gasped her reply partially because she was still scared and partially because of the running.

"Follow me. I don't know if there are anymore people in here," Arthur said taking her hand and pulling her back towards the bedroom with him.

She noticed that Arthur had taken out his gun too. She put a note in the back of her mind to ask Arthur and Eames to buy her a gun.

They walked into the room—Arthur with his gun drawn— only to see that it was useless. Eames stood above the man with his gun pointed at him. There was a slight trickle of blood coming from his forehead that looked like it would form a nasty bruise later. The man lay on the floor unconscious in a position that made his face visible.

Robert Fischer.

Arthur and Ariadne both gaped at the scene before them.

"Why didn't you tell me it was him?" Arthur said looking away from the scene to stare at Ariadne.

"I didn't know. His back was turned to us when we came to the doorway," Ariadne answered holding her hands up in defense.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Arthur said turning back towards Eames, "What did you do?" he asked him.

"Nothing fancy. I just snuck up behind him and hit his head with the butt of my gun," Eames replied shrugging nonchalantly.

Arthur nodded, "That should have him out like a light for at least two hours. We better restrain him so when he wakes up he doesn't try anything funny."

Eames turned to look at Ariadne, "Darling, may we use some of your scarves to tie him to something… maybe a chair perhaps?" He flashed her an innocent smile towards the end.

Ariadne's expression immediately changed from shock to outrage.

"Those are my good scarves! Can't you go buy some rope or something?"

"Not enough time," Arthur spoke, the voice of reason, "I'll buy you as many new scarves as you want later," he added with a charming smile.

"Fine," Ariadne huffed in frustration as she opened a basket of scarves.

"This will do nicely," Eames admitted eyeing the multiple scarves.

Arthur and Eames had Robert tied up securely to one of Ariadne's kitchen chairs in the next fifteen minutes. Ariadne had watched in wonderment at their speed and wondered if they had ever tied someone to a chair before. _They probably did_, she resolved to herself in the end.

"What do we do now?" Eames asked voicing Ariadne's thoughts.

"We wait," Arthur replied pulling up a chair in front of Robert and sitting on it.

"Maybe I could go get something to eat while you two stay here and watch Fischer," Ariadne suggested.

"Great idea, love. I'm starved," Eames agreed rubbing his stomach in anticipation.

"Alright, I'm gonna go pick up a pizza or something," Ariadne said grabbing her bag and jacket from her bedroom.

"No problem, but be careful," Arthur yelled as she headed out the door.

In all honesty, Ariadne truly wasn't that hungry. She could've waited another hour or two. She just really needed some time alone to sort through all her thoughts. So Fischer got into her flat. Not all that surprising, but the real question was _why._ He could have found out about the Inception and wanted revenge or something, like one of those action movies. But it didn't seem that way. Arthur and Eames had checked him for any weaponry before they tied him up, and they came up blank.

Before Ariadne could even ponder further on this dilemma, she felt cold metal press to the back of her head.

"Don't move," a gruff voice commanded.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello people. I'm back again. I'm not very proud of my writing in the last chapter, so I wanted to try harder in this one. I actually have no idea what I'm doing. I just make the story up as I go along. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inception. It belongs to a genius known as Christopher Nolan. Maybe you've heard of him?**

Ariadne turned around slowly to face a tall, slender man with hair graying at the roots. He looked and smelled as if he hadn't had a showered in a while, and his clothes were well-worn and tattered. Ariadne came to the conclusion that he was homeless.

"Don't try to run, sweetheart. I could always shoot you," he said, lowering his gun.

"What do you want with me?" Ariadne took a tentative step forward as she said this, not sure whether to trust this peculiar stranger.

"You're the girl from the missing poster, right?"

"What?" Ariadne was beginning to think that he was crazy.

"Yeah, you are," he said pulling a crumpled paper out of his pocket and handing it to her.

Sure enough, there was Ariadne's face on the paper. She recognized the photo. It was the one on her driver's license.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, clearly in shock.

The man gave her a toothy grin, revealing a set of yellow teeth. "They've been all over town for the past week. Now," he said, grabbing her none too roughly, "I'm gonna turn you in. If you look at that flyer again, you'll see that there's a $200 reward out for anyone who finds you. I could use some money."

He began dragging her down the alley, when Ariadne realized an easy way out of her predicament.

"Will you let me go if I give you twice as much as the reward offers?"

"Well… you'll have to show me the money first because I don't believe you."

Ariadne pulled out four hundred-dollar bills from a nearly invisible pocket on her shirt. She had a bad habit of bringing too much money with her wherever she went. The man gave her a joyful grin and let her go, walking down the alley.

She returned to her apartment about a half-hour after her "incident", wanting to be as quick as possible to avoid anyone else recognizing her.

She settled the pizza boxes in one hand and began to slowly open the door, wondering whether Fischer had already awakened.

She was wrong.

Ariadne walked into an amusing scene. Eames sat on his chair with his head lolling back and a very noticeable trail of drool creating a stain on his shoulder. She held back a loud giggle and took out her phone to take a picture. Once she had taken a picture, she began searching for Arthur, only to walk right into him as she turned the corner to her room.

"Oh, hey. You're back," he said, holding her shoulders to steady her.

"Yeah, the food is in the kitchen. But before we go there, look at what some homeless guy gave me," she said as handed him the paper.

"So? What's so special about a paper you got from a homeless man?" Arthur questioned raising a quizzical eyebrow.

Ariadne rolled her eyes, flipping the paper over in his hands.

"You're missing?" Arthur finally questioned after some time of staring blankly at the paper.

Ariadne then proceeded to recite the events that occurred when meeting the homeless man.

"Actually, it's not that big of a problem," Arthur stated, lifting one hand slowly to rub his chin. "You can just say that you went on a short vacation without telling anybody, and now you're back. Problem solved."

Ariadne stared up at him, starting to feel completely foolish for her earlier worries. She suddenly remembered the picture she had taken with her phone earlier, and all her other thoughts vanished temporarily.

"Oh, check out this picture I just took of Eames," Ariadne said as she handed her phone to Arthur.

To her utter surprise, Arthur let out a loud laugh, almost equivalent to a roar because of its volume.

Ariadne playfully smacked him on the arm.

"Thanks for that, Arthur, you've probably woken him up. Now he's gonna ask what you were laughing about."

Sure enough, as soon as the words had left Ariadne's mouth, Eames came walking around the corner sluggishly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Wow! I haven't heard Arthur laugh like that since… well, never. Tell me the reason for this sudden burst of emotion from our resident stick in the mud," he said as he came closer to them.

"Nothing really important… Ariadne's just being her usual, adorable self," Arthur told him, smirking slightly and wrapping an arm around a profusely blushing Ariadne.

"Oh really? Well I think—" Eames's sentence was abruptly cut off by a loud bang coming from the bedroom.

Arthur had already dashed off towards her bedroom before Ariadne could even realize where the bang had come from. She ran after him then, hoping that Robert hadn't escaped. She was growing very tired of this mysterious web they were all in and was longing for some answers.

She arrived to a room empty of Robert Fischer. Arthur stood by the window, his hands on the outer ledge.

"Did he escape?" she asked, edging closer to Arthur.

"Yeah, if you wanna call it escaping…" Arthur replied, finally turning to face her, a grim expression on his face.

"Huh?" Ariadne was honestly lost now.

"Come see for yourself," Arthur told her, beckoning towards the open window.

Ariadne then realized that she hadn't left the window open. In fact, she had never opened it in all her years of staying in the tiny apartment. She knew what she would see before she saw it.

Robert Fischer lay on the floor of the alley next to Ariadne's bedroom. His arms and legs were bended into unnatural positions and there was a pool of blood around his head. Ariadne suddenly felt like she was in one of those action movies where bad things keep happening.

"He was just jumping out of the window when I came in. It was too late to stop him," Arthur said.

He was suddenly behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist in a comforting gesture.

Eames came in then, taking a place next Ariadne and looking out the window as well. He was silent as he took in the scene below. His expression remained blank.

"Will we have to leave again?" Ariadne whispered.

She was fearful that the police would eventually find the body of this famous man and find finger prints or some other sort of evidence that would have them locked up for life. Or worse…

"No, I don't think so," Arthur told her, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"We could always tell the police the truth," Eames cut in, turning his back to the window. "We came to the apartment, saw a man, knocked him out, and then tied him up. But I think we should say that when we came he was already out of the window."

"Good idea, Eames. This could just be considered self-defense," Arthur voiced.

Ariadne remained quiet. She was exhausted and just wanted a good night's rest. She had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be a long day. Robert's death was extremely unexpected, to say the least. Only now did Ariadne begin to realize just how anxious she really was for answers.

"Ari?"

Arthur's voice suddenly knocked her out of her thoughts. His tone indicated that this wasn't the first time he had called her name.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"What were you thinking about?" Arthur asked, taking her by the hand and exiting the bedroom with her in tow.

"Nothing important, really. I just wanted to get a good night's rest. I have this strange feeling that tomorrow is going to be a long day."

Arthur nodded as all three of them took in seat in her living room. She hadn't noticed when Eames had gotten his hands on the pizza box, but as she and Arthur settled into the couch, she noticed Eames sitting in another chair with said box on his lap.

"You know, it would be nice if you actually shared the pizza, Eames," Ariadne stated with a smirk, snuggling into Arthur's side.

He pulled her closer as Eames passed the box towards them. Arthur took a slice, offering Ariadne a bite before taking a bite himself.

"You two are actually so cute, it's disgusting," Eames said, eyeing them from his seat.

"Did you know jealousy is one of the seven deadly sins, Eames?" Ariadne smiled at him before taking another bite of the slice she and Arthur shared.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I only own my story. Enjoy!  
**

* * *

The next two months flew by without any danger whatsoever. The entire group was very much surprised. They spent their time loitering around Ariadne's apartment, constantly on their guard. But as time flew by, they began to realize that they were actually safe for a moment. It seemed that there was finally some serenity for them all. Little did they know that this was just the calm before the storm.

"Eames, it's your turn to make lunch," Ariadne called to Eames, who was lying haphazardly on the couch in her living room.

"Isn't it Arthur's turn?" Eames moaned in return.

"No. Now, you can either go out or buy some groceries or you can go get some take out," Ariadne ordered, a stern expression on her face.

* * *

"Hey, where's Eames?" Arthur asked, "I'm starving here."

Ariadne looked up at him form her book.

"I don't know. He left, like, two hours ago."

Just as Ariadne finished her sentence, there was a series of loud knocks at the door. Arthur looked at her expectantly.

"Can you get that, honey? I'm actually really tired," she asked him, simultaneously turning back to her book with a smug grin on her face as he rose from his seat on the couch.

In all honesty, Ariadne wasn't really tired at all. She was initially going to answer the door, until she saw the expectant look on Arthur's face. Ariadne had had the sudden urge to wipe that look clean off his beautiful face. Telling to answer it for her had been exactly how to do that.

Her current occupation was growing rather tedious, so Ariadne sat up to decide on something else to do. Realizing that there really was nothing to do, Ariadne lay back down to try and sleep. When she thought a lot, she often put herself to sleep. Ariadne contented herself with thinking about how repetitive their schedule had grown after the police had questioned them about Robert Fischer's death. They had told their story and the police had bought it.

The sound of the front door banging shut interrupted Ariadne's attempts at falling asleep. She lazily opened her eyes.

Arthur stood before her, his face a mask of anger. He was holding up his cell phone.

"What's wrong?" Ariadne queried, sitting up straighter now.

"Read this."

Arthur shoved the phone towards her then, displaying a text message on the screen. It read:

_Eames won't be coming back from his grocery errand. He took a little detour with us. If you want him back, meet me at the supermarket that Eames was at to begin with._

_P.S Bring the girl with you._

Ariadne read it slowly, processing each word. So they weren't out of the woods yet. In actuality, Ariadne wasn't surprised at all. She didn't think Arthur was either. It was just very unfortunate that this happened just when they had let their guard down a little.

"So, what are we going to do?" she asked cautiously, "This is obviously a trap."

"I think it would be best if I checked the supermarket and you stayed here," Arthur responded, already reaching the front door with his coat in hand.

"No, Arthur, wait!" Ariadne jumped from her seat, meeting him at the door.

"Ari, I'd _really_ appreciate it if you'd listen to me, just this once."

"But that text said that I have to be there with you. And I know it's a trap," Ariadne added, seeing Arthur had opened his mouth to say something. "And I can't just let you willingly walk into a trap while I just sit here," Her point being made, Ariadne crossed her arms and waited impatiently for his reply.

"Yes, but it wouldn't do much good for both of us to get trapped now would it?" Arthur said, walking out the front door with Ariadne right at his heels.

"But if I'm not there they might kill you instead of just trapping you," Ariadne argued. She was very persistent.

Arthur's expression turned to one of mild agreement, making Ariadne grin. Apparently, he either couldn't argue with her logic, or had finally decided that it just wasn't worth arguing with her. It was most likely the latter.

* * *

"What the hell?" Ariadne shrieked as they exited the supermarket. Several heads turned to look her way in astonishment, making her blush profusely.

"Ari, calm down. They could be hiding somewhere out here. We don't—" Arthur's sentence was cut off by a very loud gunshot resounding in the air.

It all happened so quickly after that. Everyone around them began to scream and run, some grabbing their children in the process. Ariadne could faintly hear a child crying but she could barely register the fact. There was a hot pain spreading throughout her arm. She looked down to see a red spot blossoming on her upper arm, near her shoulder.

"Arthur…"

Arthur turned in her direction now, seeming like he had forgotten she was there. His eyes widened as he beheld her wound. Grabbing the hand on her good arm, he began gently tugging her away from the scene, toward the direction or their parked car.

"C'mon, we have to get you to a hospital. I don't think they're gonna shoot again, whoever "they" are. This was merely a threat. How are you feeling?" his eyes softened as he asked her.

"Well… it's probably the worst pain I've ever been in, considering I've never really had many injuries. Don't worry though, I can handle it," she added towards the end, even though she knew he would still be worrying.

Arthur helped her into the front passenger seat of the car. She tried not to wince as the pain in her arm began to increase.

She failed.

Arthur noticed she was in pain and glanced worriedly at her for the majority of the drive.

* * *

Once at the hospital, Arthur never left her side, for which Ariadne was very grateful. The doctor managed to patch her up quickly: he removed the bullet from her arm, disinfected the wound, and wrapped some gauze on her upper arm afterwards. He questioned how Ariadne had managed to get shot in her arm, but Arthur was prepared. He simply told the man that there was a random shooting at the supermarket.

"So, what are we going to do now, Mr. Point Man?"

They had arrived at Ariadne's apartment fifteen minutes ago, and Arthur had been on his laptop the moment they had stepped into the room. He looked as stiff as a statue, hunched over the kitchen table. The light from the screen made his face appear luminous.

"I'm trying to see if I can hack into the supermarket's security cameras… Got it!" Arthur exclaimed, beckoning for Ariadne to join him.

From Arthur's laptop screen, Ariadne could see a slightly blurry, but identifiable, Eames. He was just roaming around in the vegetable aisle, scowling at everything he looked at. Eventually, a man approached Eames and began talking to him. His back was to the camera, but judging from his stature, Ariadne assumed he was fairly young. He swiftly turned away from Eames after a moment, revealing his face.

Ariadne gawked at the screen.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry I haven't updated in FOREVER, it's just that I was having the biggest writer's block of my life. I was actually beginning to consider ending this story or giving to someone else to finish it for me. But I decided not to. This is the best thing I could conjure up. I also want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you that have been reading/reviewing/alerting/favoriting my story. It means a lot to me. You're the reason I decided to continue in the first place. Enjoy!  
**

**Disclaimer: I only own my plot, not Inception.**

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

* * *

Robert Fischer.

Never before in Ariadne's life had she been so _shocked_. She was more than shocked, actually. She wondered if her eyes were fooling her. However, she knew it wasn't just her that was seeing Robert on the monitor before them when she heard Arthur.

"Impossible…" he muttered, staring at the screen. His eyes looked far away, as if he were ten thousand miles away from Ariadne's tiny kitchen.

"But you saw him jump out of that window, and I saw his dead body. Seems like something like this could only happen in a … dream." Ariadne spoke.

Ariadne watched as Arthur hurriedly pulled out his totem, rolling it on the wooden desk once before pocketing it. She did the same, pulling out her golden bishop and tipping it over. After hearing the reassuring thump it made on the desk, she quickly put it back into her pocket.

"Okay, so we're not dreaming. What now?" Ariadne asked.

She was over the initial shock of seeing the man she just watched die walking around in the supermarket. If going into people's dreams and stealing their secrets was possible, Ariadne wouldn't be surprised if she saw a mermaid one day.

"I… don't know," Arthur replied, blankly staring at the monitor as the video replayed itself.

"What? But you're Arthur, you always know," Ariadne said teasingly, trying to lighten the stiff and serious atmosphere around them.

He got up then, slowly making his way towards her bedroom. She followed him cautiously, staying a few feet behind him. To Ariadne, the Point Man seemed dangerous when he went in full work mode.

Once in Ariadne's room, Arthur headed straight towards the window. She watched as his face developed a very concentrated look. He seemed to be looking straight down, probably trying to judge whether someone could have lived from a fall like that.

"It's impossible that he lived," she heard him mutter momentarily.

"Apparently not," she replied, crossing her thin arms over her chest.

He turned back towards her, an apparent scowl on his face. Ariadne had never seen this side of Arthur before. He was usually always calm and collected, the man with a plan. Now he seemed disheveled and confused. He was merely just a shade of the usually put-together Point Man. Not that she could blame him. They'd just seen a man come back from the dead. Ariadne had similar feelings to the ones Arthur was concealing. She was just too confused to express them.

Arthur was now sat on the bed, staring through the window directly in front of him blankly. Deciding that he was in desperate need of some alone time to sort things out, Ariadne left the room, silently closing the door behind her.

* * *

Later that night, Arthur and Ariadne lay in bed together, Arthur's arms wrapped securely around Ariadne's waist. She'd been trying to fall asleep for the past hour, maybe two, but with little success. She just kept drifting in and out of consciousness. Ariadne could tell that Arthur was doing worse than her. He'd hadn't fallen asleep at all. She could hear him groan in frustration and shift his position once in a while. Needless to say, comfort was most likely not the reason he hadn't yet fallen asleep.

Ariadne had just managed to drift into a restless sleep when she heard the bathroom light switch flip. Opening her eyes, she noticed that the bathroom door was in fact open. Turning to the side, Ariadne was met with an empty bed.

She got up slowly, and made her way towards the bathroom. She was met with a scary sight.

Arthur was looking into the mirror, his eyes red from lack of rest, with a gun pointed to his head. The worst part was that it was _him_ pointing it at _himself_. From where Ariadne stood, she could see that the gun's safety was off. Arthur hadn't seemed to notice her at the entrance.

"Arthur?" she whispered, inching closer towards him, "What are you doing?"

"This has to be a dream," was his response. His expression remained the same. Cold. Dead.

"No. It's not, Arthur. We checked our totems, remember?" Ariadne now stood next to Arthur, rubbing soothing circles on his back and reaching to remove the lethal weapon from his grasp.

Arthur noticed this and shoved her hand away. However, he clicked the gun's safety on.

"Alright," Arthur spoke, dropping the gun on the counter around the sink.

Ariadne wound her arms around his waist tightly, burying her face in his chest. Arthur paused briefly before returning the gesture just as passionately. He kissed the top of her head after they pulled away. They bid each other goodnight before falling into a sleep clouded with dangerous dreams.

* * *

They both acted like nothing had happened the next morning

Each of them preferred not to talk about Arthur's near suicide attempt. They ate, washed the dishes, and and took their showers silently. For a short time, they almost seemed like a normal couple. Until Arthur began investigating.

He sat behind his laptop until 10:00 that evening. Even then, he had not seemed the least bit tired. It came to the point where Ariadne had had to drag him away from his chair and force him to eat something, telling him that she'd destroy his laptop if he didn't. That had gotten him to move rather quickly.

Arthur sat in the living room at 10:30, eating the tuna sandwich Ariadne had given him. She lay curled up on the other side of the couch, watching him like a hawk. She was trying to be absolutely positive that he ate every bite of the sandwich.

"Arthur?" he heard her voice after he'd finished his food.

"Mm?" was his only reply as he grabbed her foot and began to rub it.

"I had an... interesting dream last night," she spoke slowly, almost as if she were trying to make sure that the right words came from her mouth. "It was like my mind replayed the entire scene from when Robert jumped from the window."

Arthur sat up straighter almost immediately, his back lining up stiffly.

Ariadne continued, pretending not to notice his reaction. "The only thing that changed was that when Robert jumped, I looked down and he stood back up, as if the fall hadn't hurt him at all. Then I woke up."

Arthur sat silently for a few moments, seemingly pondering her words.

"...It doesn't mean anything," he said eventually. "You're just under a lot of stress from everything's that happening and it incorporated itself into your dreams. It used to happen to me all the time, when I dreamed."

Ariadne suddenly let out a yelp-ish giggle, covering her mouth with her hands to hide her smile.

"What?" Arthur questioned, turning to look at her with a smile on his face.

"That tickles," she responded, pointing an accusatory finger at his hand that was still rubbing her foot.

"It does?"

She nodded.

What followed next was the most abusive thing Ariadne's foot had ever experienced. Arthur tickled it till she cried, and even then he did not stop. He did stop eventually, though, but Ariadne was still laughing, lying on his lap. He smiled down at her lovingly as she continued to let out her hysterical giggles.

Her laughing was, however, cut short by the sound of the front door flying open with a resounding "_bang_."


	13. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE

**As you could all probably tell, I am ending this story. I am incredibly sorry, but I am so busy with my original story The Winning Team, and I was rereading this story, and I honestly don't really like it. My writing style is… blah, and the plot is all over the place. **

**I will, however, leave it up on FF for anyone who would like to re-read it or whatever. If someone wishes to continue it or even re-make it, just PM me. **

**Well, that's all from me. Once again guys, I am sorry.**

**Bye bye guys!  
**


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